Everything about the game kicks ass, from the plot and music to the choices and controls (especially the controls). Many of the decisions you made in ME1 affect what happens in ME2, which in turn will carry over to ME3. This should all be common knowledge if you’ve ever played the series before.

One of my favorite new features is probably the interrupt system. Pushing a Merc out of a fifty-story building never gets old.

I also enjoyed the romantic sub-plot (you can choose a love interest, which is much more involved than the first game). Nobody could even come close to Miranda, IMO. (And the after-game love options were a nice touch too, although I was hoping you could rescue your LI from the Collectors in some capacity near the climax of the game. Didn’t quite happen though, maybe for ME3…)

I won’t go into many more details and spoil the game for those who haven’t played it yet, and I don’t have any major complaint’s about the game. Although I would’ve like to see more variety in the mineral collecting options than just scanning random planets, like defending a platnium-producing base from Eclipse Mercenaries or something.

A few more weapon options would’ve been nice too. Why’d we only get stuck with two types of SMG’s and Heavy Pistols? Maybe five or six options per weapon choice (similar to the heavy weapon options).

So anyway, they don’t detract from the game at all really, just get to playing it and enjoy the experience! (And with Southpaw control options, no less.)

(UPDATE 12/16/2009 = due to some legal technicalities, I changed the domain and revamped my business site.)

Engipress is my professional output for anything and everything related to WordPress. I designed the WordPress Theme, designed the vBulletin forum skin, and I even went out of my way to find great mods to enhance the forum posting experience, all done by myself (to assist in showcasing my skills).

The designs are intertwined to give a great overall similar feel for the new website structure (The vBulletin forum sits atop the WP Theme forum), so the forum doesn’t impair the blog’s CSS layout or font stylings.

Perhaps the main attraction of this new website for me will be to contract freelance website work for those using WordPress as either a Blog or Content Management System. Just visit my hire page to see what services I offer. I’m very flexible with the pricing as I realize different people will require different needs for what they want to accomplish.

Also as a FYI, any posts relating to WordPress or blogging will probably be made on my Engipress Blog from now on. This doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting Lightning Shock, it just represents the fact that my personal website will be shifting directions in a sense.

I feel I’m doing everyone a favor by providing this great resource to anyone who uses wordpress or plans to.

If you haven’t noticed, blogs and other community-oriented websites (this one being a fringe example) become bombarded with this form of ignorance every single day. On average, I’ll read about ten to fifteen topics a day from clueless people that more or less destroy the IQ of whomever is viewing their messages.

If you’re going to make a post on a forum somewhere, or especially if you’re going to write a comment on this website, adhere to the following tips precisely!

Do Proper Research First

One of the most common forms of online amentia is the dumbass question asker:

Hi Frnds! What is the best way to become popular?

What is a backlink? Can u plz advise me 2 get site in top 10 of Google?

If you’re going to log on to a website and start creating topics that ask very basic questions that a monkey could string together, don’t even bother. Find something more productive to do with your time, like re-reading your third grade text books.

What should you do if you’re in the group that has to put up with this crap? Direct these lazy ass bums to a tool that they can actually use to find an answer (and quit wasting everyone else’s time), a reliable Search Engine!

Titles are Everything

Every now and then I’ll see a subject heading somewhere along the lines of:

Is this Possible in any form?

How to do this?

HELP! I don’t know what to do!

Question: What do all these titles have in common? Answer: They’re stupid and provide as little information as possible!

Do you really think we know what you mean when you ask something like “What is wrong with my webpage?”? Sure, you and those closest to you may be able to decipher the general question, but for those of us that don’t have telepathic powers, do us a favor and either A) specifically tell us what the problem is; or B) shut the fuck up.

Bottom line? Write a descriptive title that intelligent people can actually interpret and return information to you as quickly as possible. You think I enjoy playing Twenty Questions with you? I’m not going to waste my time, I’ve got better things to do.

Don’t Use Fancy Styling

If you’re one of those dipshits whom likes to post in different fonts, colors, and sizes, you will only succeed at one thing, pissing me off. Save the blue, tiny, Italian style micro-fonts for your traffic-less, diary blog that no one reads, not everyone has binocular vision.

The worst of these offenders is probably the semi right-wing Bible-quoter. (And I use the term “semi” in the context that the idiot can’t make up his mind on what the hell he’s talking about, however the same could be said about all politically minded individuals.) These verse-hounding loonies love to preach on and on about ‘God loves you, 8:16′ and ‘Matthew 2:14 says something else’ and other extreme, random Christian bullshit, even when the topic has nothing to do with religion. If you just happen to fall under the category of “Bible Bitch”, do the world a favor and seal away your thoughts tighter than a peanut butter jar at a squirrel convention.

Don’t Quote Wikipedia as a Primary Source of Information

Every once in a while I’ll stumble across the odd post where some asshole decides he’ll be clever and rely upon the fountain of misinformation that is Prickipedia for proper fact-checking. All I can do is laugh in their face and give them a swift kick in the ass towards the right direction.

How people can trust a source that is editable by ANYONE is beyond logical comprehension. Someone once wrote that Joesph Stalin actually went through a “homosexual experimentation stage” in college and that the Earth’s Moon was composed entirely of cheese (I wish I were making this stuff up). The ridiculousness doesn’t stop there however, the encyclopedia (I use that term loosely) currently contains pointless articles such as Nazi UFOs and Whale Explosions. Unbelievable.

Write using a clear, proper, and concise approach

Hey DUDE!

Hv U herd the newz??? Do U thnk dey shud hv du dat? lol @ y this iz happinin. i h8 those fagz,dat tink their rulin of the wurld!!! How mny of dem bitchz,like to suk dik? Srsly, wut u thin shud be dun bout dis mess, Ya no???

i’m from China
i wnt to make friends wiv u
thank you
my msn:imamoron@aol.com

You wouldn’t believe how many messages and emails I’ve seen that follow this line of syntax. If the grammar and capitalization mistakes don’t scare you, the misspellings and lack of vowels certainly will.

The Mount Everest of the world that is Instant Messaging Crap, is without a doubt spelling the word “You” as “U” (not to be confused with equally inane “your / you’re” mistakes). If you’re too much of a lazy ass dolt that making TWO EXTRA KEYSTROKES places extensive strain on your fingers, then you probably shouldn’t be using a computer at all! Sell the machine before it gives you a brain aneurysm.

I don’t even bother with many of the comments I read here on THIS website. I grow tired of pissing away time attempting to decrypt the ‘txt spk’ contained within every other message I have the misfortune of viewing.

These are the same sorts of people that type in all caps, write huge blobs of text (break up that paragraph for readability reasons, fool), and can’t even be bothered to properly punctuate a paragraph. Maybe you should have actually paid attention during English class instead of yammering on with your classmates about who’s going out with whom, and whom got laid last night, bitch.

Seriously, do you people even consider what you’ve typed into the textarea before clicking that “Add Comment” button?

Don’t Copy and Paste

If you actually gave two-shits about the place you were posting to, you wouldn’t spam them with duplicate articles and misinformation.

Don’t act like a Crybaby Loser

If someone doesn’t reply to your inquiry, it’s not that we think you’re an idiot (well, that’s an entirely different matter), but members might not know the answer you’re seeking right away, not everyone is a walking encyclopedia of problem solving.

The odds of you screwing up and STILL making one of these mistakes are roughly about ten thousand to one, so here’s the steps you should take:

1. Get Over It.

If you don’t enjoy the replies you get on a certain site, or you’ve got tough issues you absolutely must hammer out and debate on, you can always find somewhere else to hang out. If that option doesn’t do it for you, don’t forget you can always feel free to get bent.

Someone might use the following line against you after you correctly prove them wrong against something (usually they’re more skilled on the subject matter):

You must know everything. Oh, I forgot that you are the smartest person in the world.

To which I would reply with:

I don’t know everything. I just know more than you.

This will promote the idea that, while you’re not omniscient, you still have a great deal of intelligence; much more than anyone in the same zip code as yourself. Plus the person questioning your authority will feel like an idiot.

Another common phrase being thrown around probably includes something along the lines of:

Oh My God! Why are you doing that?

Or:

God Dammit James! Do it right next time.

In one of these instances, I will respond with the following:

I’m not a God, even though you may worship me.

The antagonizer using these particular set of lines against you usually refers to the word “God” in some manner. When that happens, is the time for you to make a snappy comeback and bring worshiping into the conversation. Who knows, the person you’re talking to may even bow before you on their knees!

Lastly, someone close to you may say something along the lines of:

Please pick up that item for me. (They point to the object, usually on the floor)

To which I reply with:

Where? Right here? (Making grabby motions right in front of their finger.)

This is probably the most annoying reply you could give someone who’s asking for help or ordering you around, cleaning up and such. Pretending to not know where exactly the object to picked up is can be really agitating to the bosser, given that you don’t really know what exactly they want picked up, as they didn’t specify. There’s a vast potential of items in the distance between their fingertip and the actual object they desire in their possession.

I use these comebacks all the time, and I must say so myself, they’re pretty clever!

It is possible to reiterate each video on it’s own, all you have to do is enter in a URI with specific looping parameters. The following is the format you will use to accomplish this task:

http://www.youtube.com/v/(VideoID)&loop=1

This will redirect you to a much longer URI, but don’t worry about it, it will still achieve the same results. To see a full list of Youtube parameters available, just visit their embedded player parameters page.

To find the ID of a Youtube video however, visit the video page as you would normally would, like this one for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVwcnhoUJQ

Every character after the equals sign is included in the video ID (meaning this video’s ID is YUVwcnhoUJQ). So in order to repeat this video automatically (and to see an example of a repeating video in action), the full URI will be:

http://www.youtube.com/v/YUVwcnhoUJQ&loop=1

This is a great way to listen to your favorite songs over and over again without much effort, (while purchasing the song or album at a later date, of course).

UPDATE 5/18/2009 = The old video seems to have died, so I put up another one, a really great new song.

I’ve been using iTunes for a few years now, since mid-2006, and have a wide variety of musical compositions stored within my library. I uploaded the Peter Gabriel song “Mercy Street” soon afterwords (despite the fact that iTunes says it was added in August of 2007, my collection of songs was lost due to a computer crash and registry cleaning mistake).

You can listen to the song before bed, in the car, while you finish schoolwork, or during just about any other task you can think of. For some reason though, it’s one of his lesser known songs, but being at the top of my iTunes play counter, it reigns supreme on my ‘favorites’ playlist.

Everything about this song kicks ass, from the deep lyrics to the soothing melody, you won’t be disappointed after listening to it. I’d definitely picking up the album Mercy Street is contained on, So.

And for those curious about the lyrics (or those that are just to lazy to search for them), here they are:

looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody’s head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness
let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he’s the doctor
he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary’s lips

dreaming of mercy street
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy’s arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea

Then the commercials came on. They didn’t seem much different than a regular season game’s advertisements.

The quality of humorous and memorable Super Bowl Ads have really gone down in the past few years. Bud Light and FedEx Shipping are the only two services worth mentioning out of the entire lineup off-hand. The large birds delivering packages from last years big game along with Budweiser’s smart-cracking, male-oriented television spots seem to be all that’s left of this once-famed media spectacular.

The collection of 2009 commercials doesn’t exactly hype up the anticipation for next year, nor give us much to look forward to when that time comes around.

At least Anheiser-Busch’s marketing division (along with Federal Express’s) can still present a product and get a message across that’s actually worth the $3 Million pricetag.

I get the Fucking Red Ring of Death!!! Again!

The console wasn’t moving, it wasn’t overheating, and the power supply box (nor the system itself) wasn’t even on the ground. It came out of nowhere.

For the few years I’ve owned a 360, I’ve gotten this error Three Damn Times! And each time it had to be repackaged and sent back to Microsoft for a few hundred dollars. As if those greedy bastards didn’t make enough money off of just hardware and software sales alone, they had the gull to charge customers for repairs. Sure they may have offered an extended warranty for now, but then they retracted it, assholes.

Every time I see those smarmy lights flashing at me, I just want to throw the system into the jaw of a Microsoft Executive. And this time is no different.

And if that wasn’t enough, I can’t even play computer games properly on my computer anymore.

Take for example, “Star Wars: Empire at War”. The game is already a few years old and I was looking forward to trying it out for awhile. I get through the copy’s installation process and am just about to launch the game, only to find out my computer doesn’t meet the correct processing requirements.

My computer has an Intel Celeron 2.7 Ghz CPU. SW: EaW requires at least a 1.0 Ghz CPU from either an Intel Pentium III or an AMD Athlon processor. Are you kidding me? The damn thing only runs on TWO Specific Processor-types? What complete bullshit!

Really? How can one of the largest computer companies in the world manufacture such shitty hardware? Or how can certain games “require specific processors”? I’m seriously considering just boycotting the industry altogether. (At least until corporations pull their heads out of their collective greedy asses and start thinking about the consumer for once.)

Bah! There’s nothing that can be done.

If you’re hoping for another Load/Reload , you’re going to be in for a world of disappointment. This is thrash metal all the way around, which is a pretty rare occurrence for an album released in 2008.

Death Magnetic is obviously not Metallica’s next Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning, but why compare it to their previous works? (If anything, the album’s production reminded me of Kill’em All’s sound, riffs, etc.). No one should look at Death Magnetic (or any other Metal album) as “The next MoP”, but rather view the album as “The first DM”.

I’d say my favorite track ends in a tie between two of them. The first is The Unforgiven III, even if it’s the least thrashy song off the album. The opening piano intro is simply amazing! Then there’s the instrumental, Suicide and Redemption, which is another great complex headbanger which some may compare to the likes of Ktulu or Orion, but again, what’s the point behind comparing Art? Not taking anything away from the rest of the songs, but those were the two that I took an immediate liking to.

While the overall production style may disappoint a few, one thing I’ve specifically noticed is that it’s quality is a huge step up from the samples I’ve heard from Youtube Videos and elsewhere.

It’s really up to the fans whether they like the new sound or not (Duh!). If they believe DM sounds like trash, think the production is crappy, or just plain refuse to listen because of some lawsuit Lars filed eight years ago, then that’s their loss.

Just listen to the album and judge it for yourself, you don’t need some smug “reviewer” telling you whether it sucks or not.

(Update = 9/14/2008) After listening to the album for a bit longer, I feel I have a responsibility to highlight a few even more songs that stood out to me.

Firstly, I really enjoyed listening to the opening track, with the sweet acoustic opener that builds up into an all-out speedfest, as with their opening songs of the past. Very enjoyable.

And then there’s “The Day That Never Comes”. This may be by new favorite, I can’t decide. With it’s melodic beginning, it builds up to the latter half of the song, which should probably give an adrenaline rush. With the guitars get kicked into overdrive, Kirk solos galore, and Lars drumming on top of it. The song structure really reminded me of …And Justice For All’s “One” (arguably my favorite Metallica song ever).

Not that my opinion on the album should make a difference when you form your judgments though….

Geographical Distinctions

Antarctica as a continent may not exist, it is really a 500 foot ice wall surrounding the Earth. According to the society, the true shape of the earth is that of a discus, and resembles the features as displayed on the United Nations Flag.

Religious Connections

A few Flat Earth believers are very religious and interpret the Bible literally. I don’t think any further citation is necessary.

The Illusion of “Gravity”

Gravity as we know it does not really exist. Rather instead, the Flat Earth is accelerating at a constant speed upwards at 9.8 m/s^2.

Just think, how does all that ocean water stay put, “gravitating” towards a bodily center”?

Other Evidence Pointers

• The reason why we can’t see to the end of the earth is that the atmosphere is not perfectly transparent, and after a certain distance objects simply aren’t visible to our eyes
• Space Photos of the Earth are Faked
• NASA is corrupt
• The sun and moon are both about 32 miles in diameter and approximately 3000 miles above us
• The belief that the earth is flat rests solely on the visible observations of the Earth
• The Earth is not classified as a “Planet” in the classical sense

Still not convinced?

Join in on the discussion over at the forums and argue your counter points!